Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization

58

It was late morning by the time they got back to Pacific Heights. Malcolm went in first, and saw Caesar where he had been that morning, flat on his back on the sofa, his bandage bloody. Ellie and Alexander were nearby.

“Thank God,” Ellie said as she saw Malcolm. He held out the duffel bag and she took it, then stopped short as Blue Eyes came in, warily looking around like he still thought the whole thing might be a trap.

Caesar hooted softly from the sofa. Blue Eyes’ head snapped around at the sound, and he set his gun down to cross the room and kneel at his father’s side. The two apes touched foreheads, Blue Eyes’ face contorted in an expression that would have been accompanied by tears if apes could cry.

“Your mother… your brother,” Caesar said. “Safe?”

Blue Eyes nodded and signed something. Then he registered the bandage. He lifted it away and saw the bullet wound underneath. His body tensed and when he looked back at Malcolm, his anger seemed sudden and intense enough that Malcolm started to second-guess his decision to bring Blue Eyes here. Maybe he should have taken his chances trying to escape on his own.

“No,” Caesar said. He reached up to grasp Blue Eyes’ arm. Blue Eyes still glared at Malcolm, looking unnervingly like Koba. “Not humans,” Caesar went on, every word an effort. “Koba.”

Blue Eyes looked back down at his father, face blank with shock—and then the anger came flooding back in, only now it had a new focus. It was where it belonged, thought Malcolm. Maybe getting the truth out might still have a chance to do some good. Blue Eyes lowered his head, shamed and furious.

Ellie nudged Malcolm.

“We really need to do this now,” she said. “Caesar?” He nodded, and she started to spread out the supplies from the duffel bag.

“Son,” Caesar said. Blue Eyes turned back to his father and saw him reaching out with an open hand. Blue Eyes pressed close to his father, gripping the extended hand in both of his. Ellie leaned over him and started cleaning the surface of the wound, clipping away the surrounding hair to give herself room to work. She looked up at Caesar.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

He nodded again, holding tightly to his son.

When it was over, the three humans sat on the porch. Alexander was sketching, as he had been the entire time. Ellie and Malcolm sat on either side of him. Ellie looked exhausted. She hadn’t slept in… how long? Going on thirty-six hours, Malcolm estimated. They all needed some rest.

“How is he?” Alexander asked.

Ellie gave him an encouraging smile.

“We’ll see. He’s very strong.”

Twice during the surgery, Malcolm had thought they might lose him. They were working with inferior tools, no anesthetic, no sterile conditions, on a bullet nestled between a nicked artery and the upper lobe of Caesar’s lung. A lot could have gone wrong. Blue Eyes—to give credit where credit was due—had stayed through the whole procedure, not once flinching away as Ellie cut into his father’s body. Malcolm thought he would remember for the rest of his life—however long that turned out to be—the expression on the young ape’s face when Ellie reached into Caesar’s chest with a pair of kitchen tongs and extracted the bullet.

He’s just a kid, like Alexander.

As if he’d heard Malcolm thinking about him, Alexander leaned into his father. Malcolm mussed his hair, another one of those dad gestures that didn’t make much sense, but felt good. Ellie leaned in from the other side and Malcolm dropped his hand from Alexander’s head to rest on the back of her neck. Family, he thought. In the middle of all this, he still had his family.

Caesar stirred awake in the night, and saw Will’s living room. He thought for a moment he was young again, three years or five years old, with Will and his father somewhere in the house and ordinary human noises outside. Then he came a little more awake and that dream fell away. The wound in his chest hurt a great deal, but he could handle it. He would handle it, for the sake of his son, who was sitting near the couch.

Blue Eyes saw Caesar awake and came closer. There was a silent moment while the young ape watched him. Caesar wondered if he looked weak. He must. Death had been very close to him.

I’m so sorry, Blue Eyes signed. For everything. Caesar had a little trouble following the signs in the darkness, but he understood them. He also understood what Blue Eyes meant, where this feeling came from. There were many things he wanted to say in answer. He wanted to explain his anger, his harshness toward Blue Eyes, his fear as he saw his son fall under the spell of Koba’s unthinking hate.

Too many things to say.

Caesar raised his hands to sign, but he was too weak. His arms trembled and he lowered them back to his sides. He spoke in a strained whisper, saying only the most important thing.

“No. I am to blame.”

Even in the darkness he saw the surprise on Blue Eyes’ face.

But Koba betrayed you…

“I chose to trust him. Because he is ape.” Caesar looked away from Blue Eyes’ hands to his face. “Always thought… apes were better than humans.” He paused for breath. “But I see now… how much like them we are.”

Blue Eyes listened. Caesar realized how rare this was. His son had learned hard lessons in the past day. Something about him had changed. He had not told Caesar what it was, and Caesar would not ask. Apes had a right to their silence.

Thinking of his son’s pain strengthened Caesar. He spoke again, a little louder.

“Where is Koba now?”

He’s made the human tower his home, surrounded by the apes most loyal to him, Blue Eyes signed.

Caesar nodded. That was expected. Koba had taken the highest ground and made himself hard to reach.

“And those… who are not?”

Prisoners, Blue Eyes signed. Maurice, Rocket…

Fury rose within Caesar. Making prisoners of apes, for disloyalty? That was unworthy. Beneath them. Koba was a bully, a killer. Not a leader.

Blue Eyes kept signing.

The others only follow out of fear, he said. But once they see you are alive, they will turn from Koba.

“Not if I am weak,” Caesar said. “An ape always seeks… strongest branch.” He thought, turning over possibilities in his mind. “I must find a way… to stop him,” he said.

Blue Eyes started to sign again, then let his hands fall. He spoke aloud, something he almost never did. “What can I do? Something… I can do?”

Caesar felt a rush of pride. His son was learning. He had stood with ten toes over the edge of a plunge that took many back into animal savagery. Now he was stopping. Only a brave ape was capable of taking that step back. He watched his son for a long moment, several breaths dragging in and out. His wound hurt him terribly, but he had to be strong. For apes. Maybe for humans, too. He started to think of a plan, and nodded at his son.

Yes, there was something he could do.